In the past, vending machines have been used to dispense beverages. In one common configuration, cans or glass or plastic bottles are stacked in a vertical or offset-vertical columns and dispensed from the bottom of the columns into a holding area below the columns where the customer can retrieve the beverage. Generally, a funnel-type diverter will be used to divert the beverage to the location of the holding area and also to prevent the beverage container from being damaged during the drop. This configuration requires that the column be shorter than the height of the machine so that the beverage can be dropped into the holding area below the columns As a result, storage space that could be used to increase capacity is wasted on the holding area. This is undesirable because in the vending industry it is preferable to have the maximum capacity of product in a machine of a given size in order to maximize sales and maximize the time between product restocking.
Additionally, vending machines incorporating products, typically snacks and candy, have utilized trays having horizontal columns of product placed between each revolution of a helical shaft. The shaft is rotated one revolution, which causes an item near the end of the screw to be forced forward and become disassociated from the helical shaft. Typically, the product will drop from the front of the tray into a holding area that can be accessed by the customer to retrieve the item. The holding area must be lower than the lowest tray so that an item may drop into the holding area. As a result, space associated with the holding area is not used for storing product, thus wasting some usable space. Moreover, the helical shaft is not particularly suited for beverage containers.
Another type of vending machine, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,889 to Rudick et al., uses an elevator to receive product that is dropped from sloping trays. The product slides down the sloped trays by the force of gravity into the elevator that is moveable to a location adjacent the tray. An actuator located between the lowermost beverage and the elevator selectively allows a beverage to pass into the elevator. The elevator then moves to a second location whereby a conveyor belt in the elevator conveys the beverage to one side of the elevator where it is conveyed into a holding area to the side of the elevator. However, because the vending machine of the '889 patent utilizes sloped shelves, some of the vertical capacity of the vending machine is wasted. Moreover, because product dispensation relies on sloping shelves, jamming of product can occur if the slope is insufficient to allow for simultaneous movement of the column of product (particularly if product spillage occurs causing sticky trays) or of the product is heavy (such as large glass bottles) and applies too much force to the product dispensation actuator.
Therefore, there is a need for a vending machine, particularly a beverage vending machine, that does not waste space for a holding area for delivery of the product or for product trays that require the tray to be sloping for delivery of the product to the consumer.